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General Fitness & HealthDiscuss general fitness. conditioning and health topics.

Well guys I've done a lot of calculating tonight. In my underwear and on a full stomach with no shirt I am 220.4lbs and 5'8" exactly. My bodyfat calibers still reads 26% bodyfat and I took measurements.

Brother, I think you know what you need to do. You have the training and know how. Now do it.

IMHO, with your BP, BF%, etc... I would not worry about lift maxes right now, I would focus on my own weight. By your listed certifications, you should know what to do in the gym and the kitchen.

This is both a physical issue and a spiritual issue. Paul writes, 1 Cor 9:27 But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified. Now, apply those verses in your sig and make a transformation that will glorify God and make others marvel.

I think your first goal should be getting your BP in check. If your cholestoral is also high, you're in line for an early heart attack. Of coarse, getting in shape will help those numbers, but maybe you should see a Dr first. Just a thought.

My goals for this cycle is- strength, speed, endurance and to just look better and feel better.

Goals -

We need to do three things with those goals:

1) Simplify - It's hard enough to hit 1 goal most of the time, never mind 4.
2) Be explicit - Once we've decided on what is most important to you. Get yourself some accurate figures that you want to aim for.
3) Set a deadline - A deadline (like a competiton) provides a sense of urgency and prevents side-tracking and 'experimenting'.

The impression I get from your pictures and your posts, the biggest bang for your buck right now in terms of quality of life, health and self-confidence will be from lowering your bodyfat levels. My personal opinion, having been down the diet route, is that you like many people under-estimate bodyfat levels. In my opinion you're certainly a ways over 30% and more like 35%. However regardless of whether it's 26% or 36% guesses really are irrelevant to the fact that something needs to be done about it.

Diet -

Lets get the basics down:

1) Have a week where you monitor calories. Aim for a maintenance intake, nothing less, nothing more. Record what you eat and by the end of the week you should know your true maintenance (not what some website says). If you gained weight or lost it, then you might do this week again to get a maintenance.

2) Now you have your maintenance, subtract 500 calories and that is your daily intake for the next month at least. Later on you might zig zag or have cheat breaks, but your bodyfat now doesn't warrant that.

3) Macros. Not a massive fan of tailoring too much here, just get 200g of protein a day and concentrate on getting a large part of your carbs/calories after training.

Training -

Talking efficiency and aims to basically look good while getting you conditioned to lifting again I would recommend H/L/M full body variations. Something like this:

Monday Heavy - 3 x 10

Overhead Press
Squats
Benches
Chins
SLDL
Curls

Wednesday - Light - 3 x 15

DB. OHP
DB Row
DB Bench
Front Squat/Overhead Squat
Hypers/GMs
Curls

Friday - Medium - 3 x 12

Overhead Press
Rows
CGBP
Deadlift
Front Squat/Leg Press

Progression will be whenever you can get all of the target reps.

Keeping track/accountable

Keep a log here of course, and keep an accurate set of records week-by-week. Don't fall into the trap of weighing each day. Give yourself enough time to get this done. 2lbs a week is plenty to begin with, and later on 1lb will be fine.

1) Simplify - It's hard enough to hit 1 goal most of the time, never mind 4.
2) Be explicit - Once we've decided on what is most important to you. Get yourself some accurate figures that you want to aim for.
3) Set a deadline - A deadline (like a competiton) provides a sense of urgency and prevents side-tracking and 'experimenting'.

The impression I get from your pictures and your posts, the biggest bang for your buck right now in terms of quality of life, health and self-confidence will be from lowering your bodyfat levels.

Talking efficiency and aims to basically look good while getting you conditioned to lifting again.

I must have not been as clear as what I meant to help me make some goals. What I mean is, what weight do you think I should cut to? What bodyfat% do you think I would be at this weight? If I was 35% bodyfat, that would put me at 143lb LBM. I know I have more LBM than that.

I was looking for a weight, bodyfat, bench press, squat, deadlift goal. I can read all the books in the world about cutting and fat-loss, but until I experience it for myself there's no way I would be for sure what works better for me and what wouldn't. I'm curious to some of you guys that have been in the cutting game for a while, what weight/bodyfat goal would you have me make?

I'm not sure if this is the thread that I stated this, but I am going to check my weight every Sunday upon wakening first thing in the mornings and I am going to measure my bodyfat% at the last day of every month.

The lower you go, the harder to maintain. Train hard, and after 200 take it a pound at a time.

Man, this is going to be tough. I would say at about 200lbs my BP would drop naturally due to the water weight. 13% bodyfat to me would be pretty lean since I haven't been there in ages.

If the other guy above is right and I am really 35% bodyfat, then I would need to cut to 160 to be lean and I would be afraid of blowing away in the wind then!

My main concern is cutting without losing my strength. I just want to maintain my lifts when I get up there. I won't want my bench dropping below 260 and I want my squat and deadlifts in the 300s-400s.

I guess I will make two goals: the first goal 200lbs, then the second goal 180lbs; once I reach 180lbs, then I will decide if I should cut any further down.

Well I didn't notice Fazc's numbers, but at the end of the day it's a trivial difference. Here was my thought...I am 5'10", 179 LBM. For every inch below this a lifter generally holds 4 less pounds of muscle mass. If you were as big as me your LBM would be around 175. I think you have muscle, but are 15 pounds below me, so I think you're around 160 LBM.

That's my reasoning, but just remember that small differences change the percentages quite a bit. Right now you can't control whether you are 28 or 35.

Focus on what you can control, being:

1) Progressive training on the basics.
2) Calorie intake.

Once you get in a groove on this diet add cardio. Most bodybuilders recommend slowly adding cardio.

From here you lose weight one week at a time and re-assess. It is normal to drop weight more rapidly during week one for several reasons, one major one being your carb intake drops.

Ignore week weight loss totals unless it is real high or non-existent. Week 2 will be the baseline. If you are not losing about 2 pounds per week, drop your calorie intake by 300 per day. If you are losing weight too quickly, raise your calorie intake by 300 per day.

I completely agree with Fazc on Macros. Focus on getting enough protein and fat. Carbs fall inline naturally. No need to count as long as calories are in check and you're not undereating fat or protein.

Goal...lose 2 pounds per week.
Month one goal...lose 10 pounds (week one will be heavier)
Month two goal...lose 18 total pounds

Each week here on out see how you look in the mirror. 3-4 months you should be exactly where you need to be no matter what.

If you don't push for progression your body will have no reason to hold onto muscle while cutting.

Well I didn't notice Fazc's numbers, but at the end of the day it's a trivial difference. Here was my thought...I am 5'10", 179 LBM. For every inch below this a lifter generally holds 4 less pounds of muscle mass. If you were as big as me your LBM would be around 175. I think you have muscle, but are 15 pounds below me, so I think you're around 160 LBM.

That's my reasoning, but just remember that small differences change the percentages quite a bit. Right now you can't control whether you are 28 or 35.

Focus on what you can control, being:

1) Progressive training on the basics.
2) Calorie intake.

Once you get in a groove on this diet add cardio. Most bodybuilders recommend slowly adding cardio.

From here you lose weight one week at a time and re-assess. It is normal to drop weight more rapidly during week one for several reasons, one major one being your carb intake drops.

Ignore week weight loss totals unless it is real high or non-existent. Week 2 will be the baseline. If you are not losing about 2 pounds per week, drop your calorie intake by 300 per day. If you are losing weight too quickly, raise your calorie intake by 300 per day.

I completely agree with Fazc on Macros. Focus on getting enough protein and fat. Carbs fall inline naturally. No need to count as long as calories are in check and you're not undereating fat or protein.

Goal...lose 2 pounds per week.
Month one goal...lose 10 pounds (week one will be heavier)
Month two goal...lose 18 total pounds

Each week here on out see how you look in the mirror. 3-4 months you should be exactly where you need to be no matter what.

If you don't push for progression your body will have no reason to hold onto muscle while cutting.

Great advice. I feel like I am somewhere between 155-160lbs LBM. I don't think I would be able to bench press 310lbs at only 140lbs LBM.

I think I will gain a little bit of LBM during the early phases of the cut simply because, and it saddens me to say this, but I have never taken squats or deadlifts seriously in the past. I have always been an upper body person and I regret it severely.

I think while focusing on development of the lower body and the anabolic benefits included in training the lower body will somehow assist with maintenance of even development of LBM during this cut.

The first thing I have to drop is soda. I'm a sodaholic. I drink every bit of 6 bottles of coke and 3-4 cans of Mountain Dew per day. I think that caffeine might even have something to do with my extremely high BP.